The sand carrier Dong He caught fire in the cargo hold on 75 nautical miles off Sasebo, Japan in East China Sea. The ship was on route from the Japanese port Nagoya to the Chinese port Haimen, when the the technical malfunction caused fire in the cargo hold. The crew tried to extinguish the fire, but without any success. After the fire started growing the duty officers sent a distress signal to the coast guard station. The 12 crew members on board were evacuated from the Patrol boat. The Japanese coast guard engaged 3 patrol boats from its fleet to start the salvage operations and firefighting. The coast guard station is leading the salvage operations of the sand carrier Dong He, but still the tugs have no control over the fire on board. The local authorities reported that all the crew members are in good condition and there are no serious injured people during the accident. There is no danger for the sinking of the vessel according to the current condition and perspectives of the situation.

The general cargo ship Kemal Kuru, ran aground in Dardanelles on 0.4 nautical miles off Cape Cankaya, Turkey. The accident happened during voyage from Sevastopol to Porto Marghera, carrying steep products on board. The navigation error of the duty officer and misunderstood situation of maneuvering caused the grounding of the Turkish cargo ship. The Vessel Traffic Center sent rescue boats at the scene of the accident, but the cargo ship Kemal Kuru was able to refloat at own power a few hours later. The local authorities started investigation of the accident and released the ship to continue the voyage. There are no injured people among the 14 crew members on board and no leakage and water pollution during the accident. The survey showed that the hull of the vessel have no sufficient damages from the grounding and the ship can continue operations.

The Hong Kong based company Pac Basin bought the new bulk carrier D Handy. The vessel was built in 2012 in the South Korean Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and owned by the Taiwan Maritime Transportation company. The deal was singed in the beginning of September 2012 and the price of the contract was 20,000,000 USD. The ship will be delivered to the new owners during the next month and join the fleet of the Pac Basin. The stagnated situation in the cargo carrying and the decreasing the maritime transport, caused serious debt problems to Taiwan Maritime Transportation, which were forced to repay some of the bank loans to avoid bankruptcy. The multi-million sale will highly support the financial crisis of the company and will help it in the hard financial crisis.

The general cargo ship Lona hit a mud bank and ran aground in Tor Harbour, Sweden. The vessel was operating under ballast from Sweden to Denmark, when during a maneuvering to leave the Tor Harbour was pushed by strong winds, which took the vessel into shallow place. The bottom of the shallow area was mud, so it caused no serious damages of the hull and with the support of harbor tug the general cargo ship Lona was refloated. The port authorities requested inspection of the vessel and ensured that its stability and strength of the hull allow continue off the voyage. Now the general cargo ship continued its voyage to Randers, Denmark.

The Japanese shipowner Yamamoto Kaiun, sold the bulk carrier Brave Wind to German shipowners at price of 10,500,000 USD. The contract between the two companies was signed in Japan last week and the vessel will be delivered to the new owners in the end of November 2012. The sale of the bulk carrier was commented with fleet renew and the stagnation in the maritime transport markets and cargo carrying. The amounts will be invested in repay in the loans of the Japanese shipowner for ordering of new, more modern cargo vessels. The crew of the bulk carrier will be sacked and the new manning company will care about the hire of the officers and seamen.

The ferry Basto IV got engine failure and discarded all the voyages planned for today. The ship had technical malfunction in the engine, which caused the interruption of the service. The ferry is operating on regular routes between Moss and Horten in Norway crossing Oslofjord four time per day. The ship got technical problems, when preparing to leave the port of Horten, without any passengers on board and before starting the voyage. The ferry Basto IV is quite old ship, built in 1986, but regularly maintained and in very good condition, which ensures safety operations in North Sea.

National strike of the dock workers will close all Portuguese ports till the end of September. The workers protests against the austerity measures of the government will disturb seriously the maritime transport and the trade in the country. The main reasons for the protests are the 7% decreased of the dock workers’ wages and cutting of two additional salaries each year. The collectives, which will join the strike in the different periods till the end of the month are pilots, stevedores and port administration workers. Definitely the strikes in Portugal will seriously disturb the shipping in the country and the operations of Inchcape Shipping Services, which is the world’s leading maritime services provider.

The two cruise ships Athena and Princess Danae, which are operated by the company Classic International Cruises were arrested in Marseille, France. The owner and operator of the ships had serious debts for crew wages and fuel bunkers from the port companies. The two vessel were detained in the port and all the current and coming cruises were canceled. The company Classic International Cruises promised that all the passengers will be repatriated and the money for their cruises will be returned. The preliminary information was that cruise ships will leave Marseille with delay, because of the strong winds, but later the cruise was canceled and the company explained the exact situation.

The bulk carrier SAAR N was sold to South Korean company Samsun Logix at price of 6,500,000 USD. The contract between the German owner Pronav Shipmanagement and the South Korean company was signed yesterday and the vessel will be delivered in the end of the next month. The bulk carrier was sold according to the plans for renovation and modernization of the Pronav’s fleet. The bulk carrier was really good and powerful ship, which has large capacity and was one of the largest vessels in the fleet of the German Shipowner. From the other side the South Korea company Samsun Logix is one of the fastest developing corporations in South Korea, which is engaged with tankers and bulk carriers operations, having large fleet and increasing its tonnage every year.

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The harbor tug CMM Coatzacoalcos capsized and sank off the shores of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. The accident happened during operations in bad weather and heavy sea. The tug lost stability and capsized, which caused sinking. The master of the tug died during the accident, as his body was found by the rescuers. The chief engineer is missing and the other 3 crew members were rescued by the coast guard. According to the information from the local authorities, the tug was forced to continue operations of underwater construction works, in spite of the warning for bad weather and the opinion of the master. The local authorities started investigation about the accident, caused death of one person and missing of another.